Cowboys Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal set out to wrangle sheep in '60s Wyoming but have an intimate moment and fall in love - realizing the relationship could never exist, they go their separate ways, getting married and having kids, but never letting go of each other (and meeting for regular 'fishing trips'). If you think about it, this is really another "Love That Can Never Be" type-of film - like Romeo and Juliet - except with the male and female teenagers replaced with two males - it's taken from a very short story by Annie Proulx, and admittedly not much of a stretch to suggest that the point of the movie (the relationship is doomed) could be gleaned from watching the trailer. So since the story itself is rather rudimentary and blatant (neither of the two main characters work hard at 'disguising' their relationship, so both their wives figure it out well ahead of time; the fact that it will end tragically is also telegraphed), so what's left is a mood piece driven by several powerful performances. A lot has been made of Ledger's presence in particular, but I felt he sounded - too often - like the Billy Bob Thornton character in Sling Blade (lots of grunting and mumbling), so the actual revelations, for me at least, were Michelle Williams and Gyllenhaal, neither of whom I've given much credit to in the past. Having watched this in the theatre with a decent sized audience, I heard plenty of self-protective laughter, which is odd for a largely adult crowd - of course, I was amused at their discomfort, and wondered how the exact same group would react to Taxi zum Klo or Porn Theatre or even Wong Kar-Wai's much more convincing Happy Together. No matter what, I think Mr. Steven Erickson (the critic) is right: in about a decade, this thing is going to look remarkably dated. For now, though, it's 'pushing the envelope,' at least as far as mainstream cinema goes.
